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Ugly fight in stands mars Panthers game

Jay Busbee
Senior writer
Fight at Panthers game. (Via screen shot)
Fight at Panthers game. (Via screen shot)

Even as the NFL and CBS celebrated another ratings increase for “Thursday Night Football,” up 7 percent over last year, an ugly in-stadium event is a reminder of why, for many NFL fans, the TV experience is far preferable to the in-person one.

Instagram video shows a younger Carolina Panthers fan getting in the face of an older one. (Note: Vulgar language in the caption below.)

dude bro & his chicka were standing for the entire game. words gradually got more and more escalated. there previously was a single mom and her son between us, they left halfway through the 3rd. after that, the lid was off. the dude took offense to the couple never sitting down and obstructing his view. the victim telling the dude bro how they’re being jerks and how rude they are for not sitting. the dude bro turns around and calls the victim a “geriatric fuck”, “faggot”, and “hick”. then sucker punches him right in the face. i don’t know if he got away or left in handcuffs, but i hope it’s the latter. edit: to clarify further, both the puncher and punchee were wearing Panthers attire.

A post shared by Warren C (@odubco) on Oct 12, 2017 at 10:11pm PDT

The Panthers released a statement on Friday afternoon saying they had identified the perpetrator and were working with local authorities to pursue charges:

The person who filmed the video noted in his caption the guy who had thrown the punch had been standing for the entire game, repeatedly ignoring the requests from fans behind them to sit down. When the younger fan fired off the punch, he hustled right out of the area, but whether he was arrested or escaped remains open. Given the exact details of the seating as well as the very clear visual depiction of the guy throwing the punch, this ought to be a pretty easy collar for Charlotte police.

“We are aware of it and are in contact with club security,” NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said, per Pro Football Talk. “We have robust security plans in place at all of our games. … We take all of these very seriously.”

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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